Timeless
by Extreme Light 9
Summary: Crash is sent back far into the past and finds someone he hadn't expected to meet there. Set during Crash Bandicoot Warped.


**Timeless**

 **A/N: Hey everyone, here is my second piece for the Crash Bandicoot 21** **st** **anniversary. This fic is based on something that I've wondering about for a long time. This idea is not canon, but simply my own take on the subject.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Crash Bandicoot.**

 **Heads up, the ending is bittersweet.**

 **XXXXXXXXX**

In a flash of blue light, Crash jumped out of the time portal and landed on the ground with a grunt. Looking around at his surroundings for a bit, he realized he was somewhere in a jungle. He couldn't tell what time period this was though.

Shrugging, he began making his way through trees. He didn't manage to get very far however because the moment he stepped over some leaves, he cried out as something tightened around his foot and pulled him up into the air.

Shaking the dizziness away, Crash found himself hanging upside down. He grunted and looked up to see he had been caught in a snare of some kind.

He huffed and tried spinning to free himself, but his foot remained stuck there no matter what he did. Groaning in annoyance, he tried reaching for his leg in hopes of getting hold of his foot and untying it.

Suddenly, his ears picked up the sound of footsteps nearby.

 **XXXXXXX**

Somewhere in the forest, a man was in the middle of collecting herbs when a startled cry reached his ears. Blinking in surprise, he looked at the direction it came from worriedly. It was then remembered that the village hunters had set up some traps in that area. Did someone get caught in one?

Wasting no time, he grabbed his staff and ran as fast as he could through the trees in hopes of getting there in time to help whoever it was. Soon enough, he found the place. When he looked behind some shrubs, his suspicions were confirmed. However, it wasn't a person that got in the snare, but in fact an animal of some kind.

He scratched his head, wondering why he thought it sounded like a person. Oh well, he would have to head back to the village and tell the hunters about this.

The man squinted to get an idea on what kind of animal they caught and then realized something very, _VERY_ wrong about it. He quickly rubbed his eyes, not believing what he was seeing.

While the creature was covered in fur and had the face of an animal, his body was humanoid with even hands and fingers!

 _A demon._ He gulped, feeling his blood run cold. He tried to swallow back his panic and made sure to stay out of his sight. He should try to sneak away and warn the other villagers. They need to know this!

The demon began spinning in a speed he had never seen before in an attempt to free himself, but it didn't seem to be working at all.

 _So….he can't escape?_ That put his mind a little at ease. Maybe he could find a way to deal with this thing alone without fearing for his own life.

Steeling himself, he carefully moved out of the bushes. The sound alarmed the creature and he began struggling and thrashing in panic, making futile attempts to free his leg. When he got a glimpse of the man and his weapon he cried out and covered his head protectively.

The man tightened his grip on his staff and raised it threateningly, ready to knock the creature out, but then ever so slightly, his grip on his weapon loosened and his stance flattered.

He knew it was foolish of him to be hesitating right now, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it, not with the fear he was seeing in the creature before him. He didn't even try to attack or even act remotely vicious towards him. He tried to remind himself of the threat this creature presented to his tribe, but none of that reasoning worked in the end.

 _I'm probably going to regret this._ He thought with a defeated sigh before reaching out to free the creature's foot. He immediately fell on the ground and the man found himself taking a step back from the thing.

Letting out a groan, the creature rubbed his sore head and then stiffened when he looked up at him. The man tensed up, not knowing what to expect. Suddenly and before he could react, the creature jumped into the air over him and the mask the man was wearing was gone in a blink of an eye.

He gasped and turned to see the demon landing on the ground with his mask in his hands. The man scowled, feeling betrayed. Of course, he should have known not to trust that thing. His brother always said he was too kind for his own good!

"Give me my mask back, you thief!" He yelled as marched over towards him, but to his surprise, the creature didn't try to run away with the mask like he thought he would. Instead, he was staring at it in confusion, shaking it and poking its face as if expecting something to happen.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he tried making his voice gentler. "I want my mask back, please." He said, holding his hand out.

The creature's ears perked up and turned to stare at him perplexed. The man waited patiently until the creature slowly came over and handed him the mask. Now that he was standing right in front of him, he could see that the creature was about half as tall as he was.

Sighing in relief, he was about to put his mask back on when the creature finally spoke up.

"Aku-Aku?"

The man froze up and stared down at him in disbelief. "H-How do you know my name!?" He asked, his wariness of the creature instantly returning. "What are you? W-Where did you come from?"

The little guy didn't answer any of his questions and continued staring up at him, green eyes filled with curiosity and something else he couldn't figure out. He then reached out and grabbed the man's hand.

Aku-Aku barely managed to resist the urge to pull his hand away because he still had no idea what the thing in front of him was or what he can do, but the creature didn't try to hurt him. He was examining his hand and pulling at his fingers in fascination.

Was this the first time he sees a human?

Well, whatever the case. He still hadn't figured out what to do with the creature. So far he seemed pretty harmless for the most part. He _could_ just leave him here in the forest and head back to the village, pretend this encounter never happened, but Aku-Aku still needed to know where the little guy learned his name.

"Follow me," He muttered firmly, motioning for the creature to follow him. The creature tilted his head to the side and then started walking after him.

Aku-Aku kept a close eye on him at all time while they walked through the forest. He noticed him looking around and occasionally wandering off as if he was looking for something, but Aku-Aku didn't know what it was.

What surprised the man the most was the way the creature was acting. He seemed completely at ease around him now. No longer wary or hesitant. Whenever the little guy caught his gaze, his face will immediately relax, giving Aku-Aku the biggest grin he had ever seen in his entire life.

But why? What made the creature feel so comfortable around him now? How does he know Aku-Aku wasn't just leading him to some kind of trap? Was he just that naïve and trusting?

Suddenly, the creature stopped in his tracks and dashed into the bushes.

"Hey, wait!" Aku-Aku called out in surprise and hurried after him. When he caught up to him, he found him inspecting his basket of herbs in confusion and searching inside it, but he looked disappointed when he didn't find whatever he had been expecting.

"Oh, my basket. I almost forgot about it." He stated and took it out of his hands. "Thank you. Now let's keep moving." He then turned around and went back on the forest path.

 **XXXXXXX**

 _Maybe this was not such a good idea._ Aku-Aku thought as they stood behind some trees near the edge of the village.

His people, while they meant well, weren't exactly the most…..understanding and some had the tendency to launch a spear at anything that's not a human so they might not react kindly to a talking anthropomorphic animal.

Aku-Aku bit his lip anxiously. He might not trust him completely especially since he had yet to learn of his intentions and what he was, but he didn't want to put him in danger if he really was benevolent.

The creature looked up at him with a questioning look as asking why they were here. "I'm sorry…I just…" he trailed off and sighed, not knowing what to say or do.

Suddenly, he spotted a burly man wearing a dark wooden mask in the center of the village, arguing with someone. Aku-Aku rolled his eyes and glanced down at the creature. "Do you see that man over there? That's my brother, Uka-Uka." He said, pointing at him.

The reaction he got was not the one he was expecting. The creature's cheery demeanor was gone in an instant and his entire body tensed up. He gritted his teeth and glared at his brother warily.

"H-Hey now, calm down. I assure you he's not bad!" He stammered, but the creature didn't relax and continued glaring at him.

If this was his reaction to his brother then Aku-Aku knew he couldn't causally introduce him to the villagers because any small chance of them not freaking out at the sight of him will be lost immediately.

Aku-Aku scratched his head in uncertainty and then came to a decision. "I will be right back. Stay here and don't let them see you, alright?" He said carefully before picking up his basket and stepping out of the bushes. He glanced back briefly to make sure he wasn't following him and then made his way to the village.

He glanced around to see it bustling with activity. Everyone was going about their day as usual. Smiling softly, he made his way into his tent and placed the basket of herbs down.

 _What am I supposed to do?_ Should he turn the creature in or keep his existence a secret? If he took the creature to the chief then they will probably kill him, but if he told no one then he might be putting everyone in danger.

Aku-Aku groaned in frustration. What started out as normal day turned out to be anything but!

Suddenly, the sound of something getting knocked over made him turn around and his jaw dropped when he saw the creature sticking the upper half of his body inside a fruit basket.

"How did you get in here!?" He stammered in panic. He quickly peeked outside the tent, but was relieved when he saw no sign of panic or fear in the other villagers.

How the creature managed to bypass all these humans and get in his tent without any of them noticing was beyond him though.

He then turned to glare at the creature. "Get out of there!" He got a hold of him and pulled him out of the basket. "What were you thinking!? I told you not to follow me!" He muttered sternly, but the little guy wasn't paying attention to him nor did he try to escape from his hold. Instead he continued munching on two Wumpa fruits as if nothing was wrong.

Sighing, Aku-Aku walked over and placed him on the ground before sitting down in front of him. "Alright, what are you exactly?" Aku-Aku asked, deciding to finally get some answers from him. "Where did you come from? Are you a spirit of some kind?"

The creature tilted his head to the side at his questions and a puzzled looked crossed his face. Aku-Aku frowned impatiently and was about to ask again when the creature mumbled something that he couldn't understand.

"What did you say?" Aku-Aku asked confused and the other spoke again, but whatever he said was lost on the man.

It took him a moment to finally realize what the problem was.

"You…you don't understand anything I'm saying, do you?" He asked slowly even though he already knew the answer. The creature shrugged his shoulders.

Aku-Aku groaned. No wonder he didn't stay back in the forest. He didn't understand a word he had been saying this entire time!

He had reached a dead end. All this time he had been counting on the creature to answer all of his questions and now he was never going to get any.

The other frowned, noticing the crestfallen look on his face and offered him the half eaten Wumpa fruit.

"No, thank you." Aku-Aku shook his head tiredly.

The creature shrugged and continued munching on it. Aku-Aku rubbed his goatee as he watched at him in wonder. He wasn't like anything he had seen before. He knew many stories of spirits that lived in the depths of the forest, but this creature in front of him didn't fit the description at all.

Now that he could observe him closely, the man noticed how despite his humanoid body, the creature's appearances reminded him of…..a bandicoot.

Aku-Aku found himself curiously reaching out, wanting to touch his head.

The bandicoot noticed this, but made no attempt to pull away. Aku-Aku ran his hand over his hair and rubbed his ears gently. His companion didn't seem to be bothered by what he was doing and even saw a small smile forming on his lips.

The amount of trust the bandicoot had in him was scary to say the least. He knew the creature wasn't overly trusting considering his reaction to his brother earlier so then why did he see Aku-Aku as an exception? Was it because he freed him from the snare?

He then glanced down at the strange blue piece of clothing he was wearing and pulled at it gently, feeling the materiel in his fingers. What really threw the man off though were the creature's feet. They were red and white and sturdy. He couldn't see any toes which baffled him to no end.

When the bandicoot noticed his curious gaze on his feet, a huge devious smile crossed his face that left the man unsettled. The bandicoot then pulled his foot out of the man's hands and began messing with it, pulling what seemed to be _strings_ out of it.

"Wait, what are you doing?" He asked nervously as the bandicoot began messing with the strings with his tongue sticking out of his mouth. Then his foot detached itself…..and the bandicoot held it out in front of Aku-Aku.

The man screamed and scrambled away from him in horror and disgust. The bandicoot fell on his back, laughing uncontrollably.

Aku-Aku blinked at the lack of pain the bandicoot was showing and then noticed that his left foot was still where it should be, encased in white. Whatever that red and white thing he took off wasn't really a part of it.

"That wasn't funny!" Aku-Aku huffed, crossing his arms angrily. The bandicoot just gave him an apologetic smile after putting it back on.

The man stared him down for a while until he felt his resolve crumble and sighed, unable to stay mad at him for long. A small smile crept across his face and he shook his head with a sigh.

Just then, the two yelped when the ground shook violently. "W-What was that?" Aku-Aku stammered and he looked over to check on his companion only to see him running out of the tent.

"No, come back!" He called out as he hurried after him. Once he was outside, he saw everyone recovering from the tremor and looking around in confusion and fear.

"Look, the temple!" Someone exclaimed. Aku-Aku looked up to see smoke rising from the distant structure. It was also then that he spotted a flash of orange in the thick trees in the same direction.

Heart clutching with worry, the man quickly ran as fast as he can after him. He could hear the other villagers calling out for him to come back, but he didn't stop. Whatever had caused that tremor must be dangerous and the thought of his furry companion being anywhere near there filled him with dread.

He sprinted down the forest path and through the trees. He didn't know why he cared this much about what might happen to that creature who he met a few hours ago, but somehow he did.

It wasn't long until the temple finally came into view. Without a second thought, he hurried up the stairs, heart pounding in his chest and wishing he could get there faster.

Soon enough, he made it to the top panting for breath and his eyes searched the summit frantically until he saw him not far from where he was. He then followed his gaze and gasped in shock when he saw the temple door had been blown to pieces with smoke rising from the inside.

How did this happen? Who could have done something like that?

It was then he spotted a group of people stepping out of there. They were strangely dressed just like the bandicoot. One of the men was holding a bright glowing crystal in his hands, probably stole it from inside.

Aku-Aku's gripped tightened around his staff and glared at the thieves. "Hey stop! You have no right to have that. Give it back right now!" He shouted firmly. The thieves tensed up and turned towards them, but they made no attempt to surrender the crystal. Instead, they began approaching the two threateningly and some of them were carrying weapons.

Aku-Aku gulped, having not been expecting this. There was no way they could survive a fight against all these people if it came down to it. Considering what they've done to the temple, he knew they were a lot more dangerous than they looked.

 _Fool!_ He should have known better than to come here alone. Now they were cornered and there was nobody to save them. He desperately wished the village warriors would show up at any second!

In a flash, the bandicoot charged at the men and began spinning like a tornado, knocking anyone in his way. One man tried to land a punch on him, but he quickly stepped aside and delivered a powerful kick to his back. Aku-Aku watched the fight in stunned silence, not expecting the bandicoot to actually fight back.

His friend then turned to face the man holding the crystal and knocked him off his feet with a sliding attack causing him to drop the crystal on the ground. He then hurried over to pick it up, giving one of the thieves the chance to sneak up behind him with a club.

"NO!" Aku-Aku gasped and without thinking, he sprinted over to stop him only to take the hit instead. The man fell onto the ground, feeling the wind knocked out of him.

He heard a startled shout somewhere, but he was too dazed to focus on what was going on or who made it. His mind kept slipping in and out consciousness until everything gone black.

He didn't know how much time passed, but he woke up to the feeling of being shaking. His head turned upward to see someone standing over him though none of what they were saying made any sense to him.

It wasn't long until his vision cleared up and he saw it was his friend looking down at him in concern. The man groaned and sat up, wincing at the throbbing pain in his side. He was going to get a bruise there no doubt.

His eyes then widened when he remembered the intruders and glanced around frantically. There was no sign of those strange men anywhere and only the damage in the temple was only thing left to show that they had been here to begin with.

"What….what happened?" He turned to the bandicoot kneeling beside him and noticed the cut on his cheek, but he seemed more worried about Aku-Aku than his own injury. His ears were drooping and he had a guilty look on his face, probably blaming himself for what happened to him.

"Hey, it's alright. I'm not too hurt." He said reassuringly, but his friend still looked upset. The man frowned and motioned for him to smile. The bandicoot blinked at him and hesitantly did just that.

Aku-Aku chuckled and then noticed the pink crystal lying next to him. "Oh, you got it back? That's great!" He said in relief and reached for the crystal, planning on putting back where it belong inside the temple, but it was quickly snatched away from the ground. He looked up to see the bandicoot clutching it tightly in his hand.

"What are you doing? That belongs in the temple," Aku-Aku asked and then saw the way he was holding the crystal as if it was of great importance to him and the apologetic look on his face. It then it clicked in the man's head.

 _So this is what he had been looking for._ Aku-Aku thought and smiled down at his friend. "It's fine, you can keep it then." He stated, ruffling his friend's hair playfully. He knew might get into trouble for this, but at the moment he didn't care.

Wincing slightly, he managed to stand up and dusted himself. "Now come on, we should head back to the village." He said, turning around to leave only to stop when his friend didn't follow him. "What's wrong?"

The bandicoot frowned and shook his head at him. It took him a moment to understand what he was trying to tell him. "You're going to leave, aren't you?" He muttered and felt a bang in his chest. Of course, he knew the creature would have to go eventually. He….he just had been hoping he would stick around a little longer.

His companion looked hesitant as if he wasn't sure about leaving him alone or not so the man walked over and placed his hand on his head. "I'll be fine, don't worry about me." He said softly. "It was nice meeting you, friend. Take care of yourself, alright?"

He yelped when the bandicoot suddenly threw his arms around his neck. Aku-Aku blinked in surprise and then patted him on the back gently.

Once he pulled away, his friend's eyes widen as if he realized something and the uncertainty slowly left his features. He then looked up at the man and said something in that language of his.

Aku-Aku frowned. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're saying," He stated, but his friend just gave him a reassuring look as if he knew something that he didn't.

Flashing him one last smile, the bandicoot turned around and ran across the summit.

Just when Aku-Aku was about to ask where he was going, he was startled when a bright blue vortex suddenly appeared out of nowhere. The bandicoot whooped before jumping inside it and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving the confused man staring at the empty space in disbelieve. What was that? Where did he go?

 _Probably back to his home._ Aku-Aku thought and sighed dejectedly.

"Brother!"

Aku-Aku turned around to see Aku-Aku marching over to him, followed by the village warriors. "What happened here!?" He muttered, gaping at the destruction around them.

"There… had been a small problem, but it had already been dealt with so don't worry," He said.

"You call this small!? And what do you mean by that?" Uka-Uka asked, but the other man didn't elaborate and began walking away.

"I'll be going back home now,"

"Hey, come back! You still haven't explained anything yet!" His brother called out.

Aku-Aku knew he can't explain what really happened to them even if he wanted to. They will never believe him anyway.

It wasn't long until his mind began wandering back to his friend. He had so many questions, ones that he knew he was probably never going to get any answer for.

Where exactly did his friend go? How did he know him and Uka-Uka? Will he see him again? He highly doubted that. After all, he had come here to get that crystal from those men and had no reason to come back, but a part of him hoped that maybe someday he will get see that kind and mischievous bandicoot once more.

Still, what was it that the bandicoot had tried to tell him before he left? The man couldn't help but wonder as he made his way back to his village.

 **XXXXXX**

"It is I, the great Aku-Aku. Who have summoned….me…..?"

It wasn't until hundreds of years later that he found out the answer to those questions. When he woke up from his slumber as a spirit mask in the jungle and found himself staring speechlessly at a familiar pair of curious green eyes once again.

 **XXXXXXX**

 **A/N: Thanks for reading. Again, this isn't canon and it's just my interpretation to why Aku-Aku trusts Crash immediately in the first game even though he was clearly one of Cortex's mutants. You know, the guy who wants to take over the world?**

 **The game never showed us their first interactions so I always kept wondering about the reason behind his willingness to protect someone who should have been his enemy. The idea of Aku-Aku trying to protect Crash despite being a normal human wouldn't leave my mind and I just had to add it. :)**

 **Now I have a new question. Why almost everything I touch becomes feels-y!?**


End file.
